The first edition of the ICC T20 World Cup was played in the year 2007 on the soil of South Africa. The Indian team entered this tournament with the experience of only one match. The captaincy also rested on the young shoulders of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dhoni’s stalwarts surprised the cricket pundits and registered a miraculous victory on September 24 at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, which is still a threat in world cricket.
The Indian team took pride in becoming the first champion of the T20 World Cup by defeating arch-rival Pakistan by 5 runs in a thrilling final match. This victory had such a big impact that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BBCI), which was ignoring the T20 format till now, launched the Indian Premier League (IPL) the very next year.
This proved to be a big step not only for Indian cricket but also for world cricket. Today IPL is the second most valuable sports league in the world. Cricket leagues are being organized all over the world on the lines of IPL, due to which the players are also earning a lot.
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BCCI sent a team of youth
The T20 World Cup was organized within 6 months of the conclusion of the 2007 ODI World Cup. The Indian team was already out of the ODI World Cup in the first round. The then captain Rahul Dravid advised senior players not to play in the T20 World Cup. In such a situation, the command was handed over to Dhoni and a team of young players was sent. Many people believe that BCCI had reluctantly sent the team for the T20 World Cup, yet it returned as champion.
What was the format of the tournament?
A total of 12 teams had entered the tournament, which were divided into 4 groups of 3 each. The teams finishing in top-2 in their respective groups qualified for Super-8. The team finishing third was out of the tournament. India was in Group D with Pakistan and Scotland. Team India’s first match was against Scotland, which was washed out due to rain. After this, the Indian team defeated Pakistan in the famous bowlout and secured a place in the Super-8.
Two groups were also formed in Super-8. Here also the top-2 teams of their respective groups reached the knockout stage. India, New Zealand, South Africa and England were in one group, while Pakistan, Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were in the other. India started with a defeat in the Super-8 stage. It had to face defeat by New Zealand by 10 runs. Team India won two consecutive do-or-die matches against England and South Africa and booked the ticket for the semi-finals. Yuvraj Singh had hit 6 sixes in 6 balls against England in the Super-8 match itself.
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First beat Australia and then Pakistan
The Indian team faced the challenge of Australia in the semi-finals. Captain Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first. Yuvraj Singh (70 runs in 30 balls) and Dhoni himself (36 runs in 18 balls) played brilliant innings to take India to the score of 188/5. Now the responsibility was on the bowlers. S Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh bowled economically. Sreesanth (4-1-12-2) took the wickets of Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden. Harbhajan (25 runs in 4 overs) did not get any success. Irfan Pathan (4-0-44-2) was a bit expensive but he took the big wicket of Andrew Symonds, due to which Team India made a strong comeback in the death overs and restricted Australia to 173 runs and took entry in the final.
India chose batting even in the title match against Pakistan. Although the start was not good, Gautam Gambhir (75 runs in 54 balls) kept the scoreboard running by standing at one end. Rohit Sharma scored unbeaten 30 runs in 16 balls and took Team India to a strong score (157/5). Chasing this, Pakistan lost 6 wickets for 77 runs. The Indian team seemed to be winning in a one-sided fashion but Misbah-ul-Haq was adamant.
Misbah, along with the lower order batsmen, brought down the target to 13 runs in 6 balls. The last pair of Pakistan team was on the field. Dhoni handed the ball to inexperienced Joginder Sharma in the last over. This medium pacer, after bowling the first ball wide, hit a six on the second legal ball. Now Pakistan needed 6 runs in 4 balls. Misbah played a scoop shot on the next ball which got stuck in the air. Standing at short fine leg, Sreesanth took a memorable catch with trembling hands under pressure and this moment became immortal in the history of Indian cricket.
RP Singh took 3 wickets for 26 runs in 4 overs, while Irfan Pathan took the same number of wickets while spending only 16 runs in his quota overs. Irfan received the Player of the Match award in the final.
Indian team that won the 2007 T20 World Cup: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Yuvraj Singh (Vice-Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Irfan Pathan, Joginder Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, RP Singh, S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Piyush Chawla.
These teams took part in the first edition of T20 World Cup
- India
- Pakistan
- Australia
- New Zealand
- South Africa
- Sri Lanka
- England
- bangladesh
- west indies
- zimbabwe
- Kenya
- scotland
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